Sharon Stone accepts libel damages

Actress Sharon Stone arrives for the inaugural awards show The Billies in Beverly Hills, California in this April 20, 2006 file photo. Hollywood star Sharon Stone accepted an apology and "substantial'' libel damages at London's High Court on April 27, 2006 over a newspaper story saying she left her 4-year-old son in a car while dining in a restaurant. REUTERS/Chris Pizzello/File

LONDON  - Actress Sharon Stone has accepted an undisclosed sum in libel damages from a British newspaper that alleged she had left her four-year-old son in a car while dining at a London restaurant.

Kirsty Howarth, a lawyer for the owners of the Daily Mail, told a judge at London's High Court on Thursday the newspaper now accepted that the allegation was untrue, and apologized to Stone for the distress and embarrassment it had caused.

Stone's lawyer, Rupert Grey, said the 48-year-old actress had agreed to accept an undisclosed sum in damages from the newspaper and planned to donate the money to charity.

The Basic Instinct 2 star wasn't present for the court hearing.

In an article last June, the Daily Mail alleged that Stone had left her son Roan asleep in a car with her driver for more than two hours outside The Ivy restaurant - a London celebrity hangout - while she dined with a "mystery male companion."

"The article conveyed the clear allegation that Sharon Stone had neglected her son in a shameful and selfish way," Grey said.

The Daily Mail repeated the allegations in an article the next month, and they were picked up by other media outlets.

Grey said Stone could produce witnesses to confirm that her son had dined with her at the restaurant.